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December 5, 2010

Gonzalez Trade Completed; No Extension Announced (Though 7/161 Has Reportedly Been Agreed To)

At roughly 7:48 PM, it was announced via multiple Twitter posts that the Adrian Gonzalez trade had been completed.

The Red Sox will hold a press conference tomorrow (11 AM: a "major baseball announcement"), but it looks like there is no official contract extension. The prospects will remain the same.

SI's Jon Heyman posted that the team is "satisfied a multiyear deal can be arranged ... have common ground on parameters" and added: "Appears red sox will add about 7 yrs at about $23 mil per to a gon's $6 mil '11 salary. But no extension will be announced yet".

Which would be 7/161 (more or less) from 2012-18.

[UPDATE: Heyman's SI article states that "both sides have apparently agreed to the parameters of a new deal, believed to be for eight years and worth a total of about $167 million." That looks like Gonzalez's 2011 salary ($6.3) plus the 7/161 deal.]

...[I]n at least some respects, the best course the team can take might be to agree with Gonzalez to the parameters of a deal right now, and then wait until, say, April 8 (the day of the Fenway opener against the Yankees) to announce it. ...

The right shoulder, on which Gonzalez underwent surgery in October and that will keep him from playing until spring training, could serve as the ostensible justification to delay a deal. The Sox could say that they simply want to see the slugging first baseman back on the field and healthy before they formalize the extension. ...

The real reason why the Sox might want to wait until after the start of the regular season to announce an extension, if at all possible, is financial. Specifically, the luxury tax implications for the timing of the announcement of a long-term deal are huge.

Gordon Edes:Hearing that Sox wanted to include language to protect themselves if Gonzalez shoulder was issue. Gonzalez convinced Sox he wanted to come... Sides agreed to keep talking on extension. He came in wanting 22-25 mill a year 8 years Luxury tax implications also a factor

To me, the Edes article seems to indicate this (the extension) is a done deal, just without making it official.Which suits me fine. I hated to hear about the Werth deal, I was really hoping we might pull that off too, although that was certainly unlikely along with A-Gon. Crawford would be great, but I've a feeling he is indeed going to look at the Werth deal as some kind of precedent for himself, even though that was really an unrealistic deal IMO.But what do I know? Go for it Theo!

I would just like to note that one of the finalists for the 2011 Ford C. Frick award is Tim McCarver. Please no!

For next year, my choices for induction would include Jeff Bagwell, Roberto Alomar, and Bert Blyleven. Palmeiro may get in based on his impressive career numbers but only if voters look past the failed drug test.